Field
This disclosure relates to a positive active material for a rechargeable lithium battery and a rechargeable lithium battery including the same.
Description of the Related Technology
Recently, due to reductions in size and weight of portable electronic equipment, there has been a need to develop batteries for the portable electronic equipment that have both high performance and large capacity.
Rechargeable lithium batteries include a negative electrode, a positive electrode, and an electrolyte, and generate electrical energy by oxidation and reduction reactions when lithium ions are intercalated/deintercalated in the positive electrode and negative electrode.
Such rechargeable lithium batteries typically use a lithium metal, a carbon-based material, Si, and the like for a negative active material. Metal chalcogenide compounds capable of intercalating and deintercalating lithium ions, and for example, composite metal oxide such as LiCoO2, LiMn2O4, LiNiO2, LiNi1−xCoxO2 (0<X<1), LiMnO2, and the like have typically been used as a positive active material of rechargeable lithium batteries. Recently, an attempt to develop an electrode having low resistance has been made by making the electrode into a thin film to achieve high power characteristics of a rechargeable lithium battery. However, the results have been unsatisfactory due to characteristics of an active material itself. Accordingly, a technique of adding a capacitor material, such as activated carbon, to an active material has been developed.